Entering c-base is like stumbling onto the set of 2001: the silver entrance resembles a cylindrical space station airlock with a talking hand-scanner that registers members and reports who’s already checked in that night. Throughout, plastic aliens, metallic panes and control panels covered in buttons (labelled in c-base code, one with a ‘I ♥ OPEN SOURCE’ sticker) add playfully to the myth and the hacker playground atmosphere – as do the sci-fi library downstairs, the restored Atari video game console, original Pong and member-developed four-person touch-screen Tetris, as well as celebrations like Towel Day (May 25, honouring Hitchhikers’ Guide to the Galaxy author Douglas Adams) and pilgrimages like Chaos Camp, where this year’s c-base campers built a pancake-making robot.